Travis Kalanick Launches Atoms Robotics Company, Leaves California

Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has formally launched Atoms, a robotics company that emerged from eight years of stealth development under his real estate venture City Storage Systems, which owns ghost-kitchen operator CloudKitchens. The company, which Kalanick says has "thousands" of employees, is focused on building "gainfully employed robots" across three verticals: Atoms Food for food infrastructure, Atoms Mining for more productive mining operations, and Atoms Transport for robotic vehicle platforms.

Kalanick's pivot to robotics comes as the autonomous technology space heats up, with companies like Tesla, Waymo, and numerous startups competing for dominance. Atoms is reportedly on the precipice of acquiring Pronto, the autonomous vehicle startup focused on industrial and mining sites created by Anthony Levandowski — Kalanick's former Uber colleague who was at the center of the Waymo-Uber trade secrets lawsuit. The acquisition would give Atoms immediate autonomous driving capabilities for industrial applications.

The launch of Atoms represents one of the most significant re-entries into the tech spotlight by a Silicon Valley founder in recent years. Kalanick's track record of disrupting entrenched industries at UBER gives the venture credibility, though questions remain about whether the robotics market — with its high capital requirements and long development cycles — can deliver the rapid growth Kalanick is known for pursuing.